IWA has announced an award of £5,000 towards the replacement of Brigham Bridge on the Driffield Navigation. The present low-level fixed bridge obstructs navigation. The award has been made from IWA’s National Waterways Restoration & Development Fund.

The replacement of the bridge follows nearly 10 years of negotiation between the Driffield Navigation Trust, the Driffield Navigation Amenities Association, local landowners and the local authority. Planning consent has now been granted for a new, manually operated steel swing bridge. With the restoration of Snakeholme Lock due to be completed in spring next year, the new bridge will enable boats to travel from Brigham to Wansford Bridge.

The local authority has given an undertaking that it will rebuild the fixed bridge at Wansford, which it owns, when navigation is restored to that point. Once this is complete, the Trust will focus on restoring the final 1.5km Wansford Lock and Whinhill Lock section of the 11.5 km navigation.

Driffield Navigation Trust aims to have all the necessary funding in place to allow installation of the bridge to start in June 2002.

Driffield Navigation was opened in 1770 to extend the navigable River Hull northwards to the town of Driffield. The navigation was moderately successful until the 1850’s when railway competition began to take its toll. The navigation became unused in the late 1940’s, but in 1968 Driffield Navigation Amenities Association was founded to campaign for restoration of the navigation. In 1978 The Charity Commission appointed new commissioners for the navigation, and steady progress has been made since then in re-opening the waterway as an amenity for all users.